Category: Awareness Building

No Controversy – The fight for contraceptives

When you think about Women’s rights what comes to your mind? The right to receive an education? Abortion? What about the right to plan their own families? Whenever women’s reproductive and health rights are being discussed, there is always controversy surrounding this issue. Especially when it comes to using contraceptives, also known as birth control. …

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The Politics of Women’s Health in the US: Part Two

Apparently freedom of speech and talking like an adult are not acceptable in some places in 2012. Specifically I’m talking about the Michigan House of Representatives where, as you may have heard, one female state representative and her colleague were banned, banned, from speaking because of a word that was uttered. What could she have …

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What Makes an Athlete a “Woman”?

It’s officially less than one month until the Olympics. Twenty-nine days to be exact. (Not that I’ve been counting…) Ever since I’ve been young, I’ve loved the Olympics. From the moment the Opening Ceremony starts, I’m glued to my television set- through all the events, the award ceremonies, and straight through to the Closing Ceremony.There’s …

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Sports Mascots: They’re Not All Fun and Games

Mascots, mascots, mascots. They’re everywhere. High school, college, and professional teams alike circle around their beloved mascots during the “big game” as a beacon of tradition, hope, and luck. Some mascots are funny, and some are plain strange. (There’s such thing as a banana slug? And a dancing tree? Check out UC Santa Cruz and …

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Should Convicted Felons Have the Right to Vote?

It’s an election year again. Which means you, just like me, have been getting bombarded with press releases, flyers, news articles, debates, and more information than you could ever possibly require about this round of candidates. Sure, this can be irritating at times, but it’s what you’ve come to expect this time of year and …

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Water is Everyone’s Problem

Did you know water was declared a human right in 2010 by the United Nations? Yet, 884 million people are still without access to safe drinking water and, more than 2.4 billion people lack access to basic sanitation. These statistics are pretty shocking to me because despite many advances, we are facing this problem in …

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Who shoulders the refugee burden?

Another week, another UN holiday commemorating a global social issue. This week we had World Refugee Day on June 20th, a day to “honor the courage, strength and determination of women, men and children who are forced to flee their homes under threat of persecution, conflict and violence.” With the situations ongoing in the Middle …

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DREAMers Goal in Sight? Maybe

Immigration issues have been in the news a lot over the past few months. With this being an election year and the hispanic vote supposedly “up for grabs”, politicians from both parties have been trying their best to appear favorable to the immigrant community without isolating any of their other traditional supporters. But up until …

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The Rise of Brazil: Part 1

Have you noticed lately that Brazil has been in the international spotlight… a lot? It seems like every week I see some new headline about Brazil in relation to:1) a major international convention, 2) a major international sports event or 3) an issue involving development in the Amazon. The attention is good, bad and/ or …

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Stop and Frisk: A New York Controversy

Stop and Frisk. I’m sure you’ve heard about it but I doubt you’ve personally experienced it or really even thought about how it would feel. Imagine you’re walking in your neighborhood, hanging out in a park, just talking to your friends. All of a sudden a police officer walks up and informs you he needs …

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